Make Mine Mystery

October 5, 2018

Linda Lee Kane

I subscribe to the Fussy Librarian, and they sent out an article regarding, ‘The Readers Speak.’ They asked more than 1200 people about pricing, free ebook promotions, what makes them buy books, and what makes them stop reading book blurbs.

I thought the information was interesting enough to share with all of you, so here goes:

On Pricing

Let’s look at the one area that every author agonizes over-pricing. Also, known

 as: Are ebook readers cheap moochers who don’t care if I eat ramen noodles for the rest of my life or are they willing to pay a reasonable price for this book that consumed two years and caused my children to resent me?

Question: What do you think is a fair price for a full novel in ebook format, that pays an author well, but remains affordable?

All ebooks should be free: 6 percent

99 cents: 8.7 percent

$1.99: 11.8 percent

$2.99: 16.5 percent

$3.99: 20.6 percent

$4.99: 18 percent

$5.99: 11.6

More than $5.99: 6.4

If you think that people are willing to pay 4.99 and 5.99 for your book, you’ve written off 64% of your market.

Now if you’re a best selling author you can get away with much more but until than, be smart and sell at price points that appeal to the vast majority of your readers.

Next month I’ll talk about the Novella Market.